Behind the Counter
In a similar move, it was announced by Paul Meyer, owner of Crazy Egor’s, than they are bidding a not so fond farewell to GenCon! Paul (who wears a shirt with the word “HIMSELF” stitched on it) had signs up in his booth – a GenCon mainstay for YEARS – announcing his permanent departure as a GenCon Vendor. Though I didn’t get the why’s and whatnot's from Paul, I heard from his staff that he felt the cost of attending was too high. Though, I might suggest that the increased competition as a “rare games seller” has had an effect. Troll & Toad has been creeping in on that market for years – to the point that “dealers” are unwelcome to shop in the Crazy Egor Booth – though that will be less of a concern since he won’t be back, I suppose.
In what I can only call a BIZARRE move – Paul came to my booth to give me a $5 off coupon – then when I heard of his sale, and went to his booth, I was told to leave – that he didn’t want to sell to other dealers. Meh, I am a shop owner – and I believe that Paul has every right to decide who he will and won’t sell to. I have some former customers who have been tossed out of MY shop, so why not his booth? Yet, I was taken aback by his specifically telling me to come to his booth, evidently so he could then tell me to leave?!? Uh, WTF?
But, that is not the weirdest thing to happen to me at GenCon, this is: Atari steals from Titan Games!
During set up at GenCon on Tuesday, August 11th, one of the workers from the Atari booth walked brazenly into my booth, bent down, unplugged our 4-outlet electrical box, and took it back to his own booth to use. I stopped him and demanded the equipment back to which the lazy fuqwit said “Oh, was this yours?” - Which almost got him kicked in the nuts (Eric Cartman Voice here). I later complained to his supervisor and the booth head person – both of whom apologized, but took no further action. I resisted the urge to urinate on their carpet every night. Well, most nights, anyway. I would think Atari is a large enough company to afford their own frakking 4-outlet electrical extension cord, and even to employ people who do not think it is okay to just STEAL from fellow vendors.
You Gotta Appreciate Good Work. The GenCon Staff always amaze me with how much they do, organize and accomplish. But, every year I am amazed specifically by one staffer: Megan Saves the Day! With less than three weeks out to the GenCon event Megan, the most remarkable of any salesperson or Con Staffer at any position, ever, at any con I have ever attended – and we have attended over 500 cons, and over 100 DIFFERENT conventions – actually got my booth increased from 100 square feet to 400 square feet. AS a result we had our BEST convention sales ever. Thanks Megan – you’re the best con staffer of all time!!!! (Peter, give this woman a RAISE!)
90 Million copies of Pathfinder! (That may be a slight exaggeration.) My good friends at Paizo Games had their new release – Pathfinder Core Rulebook – on sale at the convention (I don’t mean marked down, I mean they had them to sell.) The pile of Pathfinder books was HUGE – and resupplied every day. I would like to congratulate them on what I must assume was a HUGELY successful launch! I like the people at Paizo a lot, and consider owner, Lisa Stevens, a good friend. It is rewarding to see her company have great success. Pathfinder is something I will be carrying in my store, as soon as I open my shipment from yesterday. (I took yesterday off, it was the Monday after GenCon, and I was a tired pup!)
Troll Lord Games has famed Author Jim Ward doing signings in Booth! Steven Chenault, co-owner of Troll Lord Games, is one of my favorite people in the industry. Over the years I have bought several liquidations from them, and this year was no exception. The older books I bought from them were delivered to my GenCon booth, and we sold nearly all of the 50+ cases of back stock. Author Jim Ward was on hand to do signings in the Troll Lord booth, and I really am fond of Jim Ward – creator and author of such things as Metamorphosis Alpha and MANY other titles. He might be the most prolific writer in the room at GenCon, though that particular honor may also belong to Margaret Weis. Jim is always fun to visit with and I got to catch up with him some between autographs. This is one of my gamer-goob moments when someone like Jim greets me by name. (Yes, I am a dork.) My favorite moment of all of GenCon was walking up to the Troll Lord booth, seeing Jim doing signings for fans, and he looks up and greets me with “Hello Marcus, My Good Friend!” Wow!
AEG rocks the house! With the launch of a new set of L5R cards, the AEG booth was abuzz all weekend. It appeared from my perspective that Alderac Entertainment Group, and owner John Zinser (who I invariably call David – don’t know why) was demoing and showing off many new products, but the L5R product seemed to be the most in demand. I don’t carry L5R in my stores, but I do appreciate the effort that Alderac puts into promoting the game – perhaps it will be something I add this fall. As a retailer who is essentially lazy at selling games – I tend to carry things my customers ask for. Seeing a company like AEG attempt to increase demand by teaching, demoing and showing off the new game or set – gives me a deeper appreciation for their efforts, and commitment to the industry, and the hobby of gaming.
Troll & Toad Auction Badassedness! The GenCon auction is nothing short of “Spectacle” – and again this year Troll & Toad, along with an all star cast of supporting characters, put on a fabulous show, lucrative auction, and provided a GREAT asset to GenCon, and opportunity to those who attend – both to sell or buy! With thousands of items the GenCon auction was a HUGE deal – and yet the Troll and Toad staff pulled it off, yet again, with their calm, professional manner they always bring to every event! They, unfortunately, suffered another theft of a computer (they had several stolen at the Origins Auction) but the T&T guys and gals got it all done and settled up with the sellers before the dealers hall closed on Sunday – truly a feat of both determination and organization that few companies could duplicate. I would like to thank them for a job well done, and express my admiration of their efforts.
Mongoose Games New Releases! I love the Mongoose guys and gals. They publish or have published some of my personal favorite games from Battlefield Evolution to Conan RPG, to Starship Troopers! They also have Traveller, and other properties, as well as many games of their own creation. It was satisfying to be set up near them this year – and observe their operations as they greeted customers, showed their wares, and rang up sales! I really enjoy the games they make – both as a gamer, and as a retailer. They are fun games to play, and profitable to sell. It was a real treat to meet Kelly from Mongoose! We missed Alex, who was out with an injury!
Green Ronin Stuff! I also got a peek at the wares of my friends Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, from Green Ronin Publishing. Another company who I carry EVERY title they make, Green Ronin puts out a lot of cool stuff, which my customers seem to clamor for! And, it is always good to catch up with the Green Ronin crew. Former GAMA Vice President Nicole Lindroos, and husband Chris Pramas are a couple of my very favorite people in this industry – and their products are good sellers in my store. True20, by the way, is one of the game systems I actually play. I don’t particularly like D&D 4th Ed, and True20 is the game I prefer to use as the “system” when I play a new RPG. With the plethora of material for 3.5 Ed, I find True20 to be a suitable core book to which I can add any d20 style book.
Supernatural RPG! Jamie Chambers and Margaret Weis are two of my most favored Industry Alumni, and I enjoy seeing them at the cons. Jamie took over as the Vice President of GAMA when I stepped down in 2006, and has held the position ever since. Margaret once invited me to the early screening of SERENITY in Chicago, when the film was not yet finished – I often refer to this as “my best date experience, ever!” (LOL). With both Serenity and Battlestar Galactica RPGs in their companies arsenal, they have now added Supernatural – another television series based RPG, which I have yet to play – but the sales for the book in their booth was unbelievable! I must’ve seen a hundred people carrying that book around the show – which likely translates into thousands of copies sold. Nice!
Larry Elmore Misses the Con! Larry Elmore, if you don’t know who that is – why are you reading this? – missed GenCon for the first time since, well, like, there ever was a GenCon, I imagine. Due to health complications. Larry, my family, staff and I wish you a full and speedy recovery.
One of the true Gentlemen of Gaming, Larry’s artwork has adorned my home, office, and t-shirts for over 30 years now. Larry, I love ya man! Get Well!
Visits from Friends
- My sales rep from Alliance Games, Brian - stopped by to say hello.
- The Preacher - John Sheppard - of GTS Distribution also poked his head by our booth.
- As did Chris, my ACD Sales Rep.
- Mike Webb and Danny O'Neal from Alliance Games stopped by.
- Also John Ward, GAMA Executive Director stopped by to see us.
- Will and Shar Niebling of Elfinwerks came by to say hello.
- Margaret Weis, famed author, came by for a visit.
- Alex Yeager of Mayfair games stopped by to visit my wife and me, too.
- And, many other fellow retailers, accomplished authors and publishers stopped by for a visit, sorry if I can't remember everyone, bit frazzled here!
Dinner Out! Colleen and I, along with Max, Jenny and Hannah, got to go out to dinner with our friends Tony and Kim Lakas, Lurch and Jim Crocker, and Paul Burdick. I like Buca Debeppo’s (which I am likely misspelling, and mis pronouncing) and this pasta-palace is so good we actually ate there two nights running. Our party of about 12 was likely louder than they are used to, but nobody threw us out, so I guess we did alright! It is always good to see Tony, Kim and Lurch. Jim and Paul are folks we don’t always see or have dinner with, and I really enjoyed catching up. Tony, Jim and Paul are all fellow retail store owners, with very divergent stores. Jim has a store in Massachusetts, Paul in Ohio, and Tony in Anderson, IN, about 30 minutes from GenCon. Tony and my store’s are very similar, while Jim’s is more comic and graphic novel heavy than ours – and Pauls is a store I don’t know much about (I think he keeps it secret!). At any rate, it was good to see all my friends
Okay, that is a wrap. I could go on for 5 more pages, and I would still miss out on someone, or something. GenCon is always fun, the people who run it – do so very, very well. I actually have NO complaints about GenCon this year (though about Atari, well, that’s another matter). Megan, you work miracles! The GeoFern folks – you ran a great marshaling yard and tight dock, assisting in the load in and load out procedure being easy.
Gosh, I have almost talked myself into having a booth next year.... Marcus King owner
Titan Games & Music
1504 West Michigan - Kalamazoo, MI 49006
637 Capital Ave SW - Battle Creek, MI 49015
Our Kalamazoo's store Website:
http://www.titangameskalamazoo.com
Our MySpace Page:
http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user
Our Amazon Store:
http://www.amazon.com/shops/titangames
Our Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kalamazoo-MI-Battle-Creek/Titan-Games-Music/80594856721?ref=ts
My 5 dozen plus columns on RPG.net:
http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=counter
